Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Alafia River State Park

We were there in April, 2004. I am trying to document the different parks we stayed at.

Lithia, Florida – 10 miles southeast of Tampa Alafia River State Park offers some of the most challenging off-road biking trails in Florida. It used to be the site of a phosphate mine, which gives it the hills and topography for extreme biking. The kind of biking where you are on narrow trails riding up and down steep hills. This is not my kind of biking. There are also 20 miles of hiking, regular biking trails, and Equestrian Trails. It’s a great place to bring a horse with some nice trails and the campsites have places to keep the horses. It’s a great place for Bird-watching and Star-Gazing. There are several lakes along the Alafia River and a lot of area for kayaking, canoeing or fishing.

There are 30 RV sites with electric and water. There 12 Equestrian Sites with electric and water and a place for your horse. Lots of nice trails to ride.

The park sits on over 6000 acres of land on the Alafia River. It’s a very rural area, but close to Tampa. Many mountain bikers come there for some extreme biking…at least it’s extreme in my opinion!

One time we were there there was a star gazing club all set up with huge telescopes. It would be a great place for star gazing as it is very dark at night!
You’re out in the country!
Swamp
Can you see the Gator?
This is a nice park if you’re looking to get away from the crowds.